texas flute society newsletter spring 2013 · texas flute society newsletter spring 2013 texas...
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TEXAS FLUTE SOCIETY
NEWSLETTER
SPRING 2013
Texas Flute Society Individual Membership Application January 1, 2013- December 31, 2013
Name
Address
City
Please select from the following:
$10.00 Student – Grades K-12
$10.00 College – Undergraduate
$25.00 College – Graduate
$25.00 Adult/Teacher/Professional
State Zip Code $35.00 Sustaining Member
(Sustaining members will receive special Home Phone
Alt. Phone
Choose One:
New Member
Renewing Member
Information Change/Update
Mail with appropriate payment to:
Larry Bailey
Texas Flute Society, Membership
2553 Primrose Drive
Richardson, TX 75082
recognition in the festival program book)
$500.00 Life Member
$ Total Enclosed If you are a teacher, please check all the
categories you instruct:
Elementary Grades 7-9
Grades 10-12 College/University
Adult
Teaching Locale:
Date:
President: Meg Griffith- [email protected] Editor: Allison Wellons - [email protected]
Letter from the President
Hello everyone!
March has arrived, and TFS has been busy! I’d like to first welcome Izzy Hance to the
board as our new Clinicians Coordinator. She is taking over for Laura Salfen, who will
be sorely missed! I’d also like to send many thanks towards our Membership
Coordinator and Webmaster, Larry Bailey, who became a Life Member. TFS is very
lucky to work with so many wonderful people! If you are interested in becoming
involved, please let us know. We’re a fun group!
I am very excited about a new event we are sponsoring this spring. Saturday, March
23rd
, is the official date of our first-ever Members’ Recital! Held at Messiah Lutheran
Church at 2:00 PM, the recital will feature teachers, professional performers, and
adult amateurs, chosen from the first responders to our request for players. We hope
to make this a yearly event in support and appreciation for our hard-working flutists
in the metroplex. Come support your colleagues! Bring your students!
March gets even better with a visit from the esteemed composer and performer Mike Mower! We are very lucky to
have him here all the way from England! He will be performing and teaching at UNT in Denton March 29-30. Details
will follow via email and Facebook. His offerings speak to everyone, from those who love his music and wish to hear
about performance techniques from the source to those wishing to learn more about the compositional process as a
whole.
Of course, who could forget the festival! Our next newsletter will have more detail regarding the offerings for this year.
But to whet your appetite… We have flute choirs galore, Thomas Robertello’s fun and fascinating expertise in a
pedagogy workshop, Holly Hofmann’s easy and accessible approaches to jazz, Conor Nelson’s awe-inspiring musicality,
and the piccolo expertise of Valerie Estes.
We would love to have you involved in the festival! Please volunteer! Our phenomenal Volunteer Coordinator Pamela
Riley is waiting to hear from you and has lots of fun ways to get you involved in the inner workings of the festival. We
can’t do it without you!
I hope you have a very restful Spring Break!
Until the Pre-Festival Newsletter,
Meg In this Issue: 3. Announcements
4. Guest Artist Interview: Conor Nelson
7. Learn about a flute phenom: Patrick Gallois
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A New Life Member!
Larry Bailey is a longstanding contributing member of the Texas Flute Society, having served on its board since
2001. An amateur flutist, he has performed with the Plano Community Band for over 25 years and served as
principal flute with the New Life Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2012. Larry holds an undergraduate degree in
mathematics from Mississippi State University and a master's degree in computer science from Southern
Methodist University. His flute teachers include Debbie Ragsdale, Claire Johnson, and Helen Blackburn.
Attention all TFS Members!
If you would like to be a part of the Flute Festival as a volunteer,
we could use your help! Many opportunities are available
throughout the weekend including aiding in Registration,
Hospitality, setting up before Festival and packing up afterwards,
and monitoring doors at the different events to name a few.
Please, contact Dr. Pamela Riley with your information and how
you would like to help or any questions about volunteer
opportunities. We cannot run the Festival smoothly without our
volunteers!
Cell: 732-213-0704 (text or call)
Home: 817-685-8444
In Memoriam
Mortimer "Morty" Rapfogel, a founding member and the 2nd
president of TFS, died
peacefully Thursday morning, Jan. 31, 2013, nearing his 101st year. Born in New York
City, he played flute in the New York Philharmonic under Arturo Toscanini as well as all
original Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway productions. He also performed with George
Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky and Sergie Rachmaninoff. In 1957, seeking a "better quality of
life" for his family, he moved to Fort Worth, joining the Fort Worth Symphony and Casa
Manana. In 1958, he started developing land and building homes during the day while
playing music in the evening over the next 40 years.
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Guest Artist Interview: Conor Nelson
Canadian flutist Conor Nelson gave his New York recital debut at
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and has since appeared
frequently as soloist and recitalist throughout the United States and
abroad. Recent solo engagements include performances with the
Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Flint
Symphony, and numerous other orchestras. He is only wind player to
win the Grand Prize at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, and
won first prize at the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. As a
chamber musician, he performs regularly internationally with
marimbist/percussionist, Ayano Kataoka as part of the Conor and
Ayano Duo. Conor is currently the Assistant Professor of Flute at
Bowling Green State University and often gives masterclasses
throughout the United States.
What got you involved in music? Did you listen to it as a child? Was there a specific influence along those
lines? I quit piano lessons on several occasions before starting the flute. I owe a great deal to my elementary school band program, as I never would have had an introduction to the instrument otherwise.
Why did you choose to play the flute? At some point before choosing instruments in elementary school my class took a trip to see a children’s concert
with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Following the concert, I decided that I simply had to play the bassoon.
Upon realizing that my school didn’t have bassoons – or oboes for that matter, I decided that the clarinet at least
looked closest to the oboe. Luckily, I saw an older student walking to school with her clarinet a couple days before
it came time to choose instruments. After witnessing an eighth grader nonchalantly put her clarinet back in her case
after
dumping all of the pieces on the pavement, I decided to give up and choose the flute, as I certainly didn’t want to
share the same instrument with her! After all of my “first choices” had been sufficiently thwarted, I gave up, and
picked an instrument that would easily fit in my backpack so that I could ride my bike to school. One day in the car
my dad said “So, you are starting to really like your piano lessons… would you want flute lessons as well?” I still
like putting my flute in a backpack and riding my bike to school!
Who were your teachers? Our earliest teachers seldom get the credit they deserve, so I will share some of these experiences here.
Donna Sykes was my first flute teacher in Oshawa, Ontario, a GM employed suburb sixty minutes from Toronto.
She made playing the flute so much fun and established a strong sense of community within her high school flute
studio. After graduating with her degree in music education, she started her own studio and I participated in her flute
choir. She encouraged all of us to enter local competitions and very selflessly sought lessons for me with Amy
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Hamilton (who is a full professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario) when she felt that I was ready to move
on. She would drive us hundreds of miles to NFA conventions and we would spend entire days at the local
amusement park where the flute choir would also play a little bit. She was constantly organizing studio recitals and
always showed excitement for music and the flute. She made everything fun – even rhythm and scales! We are
always in need of excellent teachers like this for our young high school and middle school students.
My dad drove me over an hour-and-forty-five minutes way for lessons with Dr. Amy Hamilton when I was a
sophomore/junior in high school. I would not be the flutist I am today without her. She instilled a systematic
approach to learning technique via Altes and Andersen etudes and breaking down sections of the Taffanel and
Gaubert for me to isolate each week. She really taught me how to listen to myself early on, not only in every piece
that I played for her, in her approach to long tones from De La Sonorite as well. At an early age, she instilled a
strong sense of discipline.
I am so fortunate to have continued studies with Susan Hoeppner in High School, Linda Chesis at Manhattan School
of Music, Ransom Wilson at Yale and Carol Wincenc at Stony Brook. My chamber music coaches throughout all
three degrees were also extremely inspirational. I encourage my students to play as much chamber music as possible.
What is your favorite piece to play from the flute repertoire and why? If I absolutely had to give an answer, it would probably be the Nielsen Concerto. When all of Nielsen’s markings are
truly understood and conveyed, I think it can be an extremely powerful piece.
What is the most valuable lesson the flute (or music in general) has taught you? Music has taught me the value of hard work, setting goals, and patience. Music also gave me a clear direction in life,
for which I will always be grateful.
What musician has had the largest influence on your playing? During our high school years we are all extremely impressionable and although it is impossible to identify just one
musician, I would say that Susan Hoeppner, who was one of my teachers in high school, has had a profound
influence on my playing. I am certain that her influence will continue to shape my musicianship for the rest of my
life. Her huge sound, commanding technique and soloistic approach simply blow me away to this day.
What qualities do you think are most essential to musical excellence? Talent, dedication and professionalism would be at the top of my list. You have to be willing to put in long hours
almost every day of the year. This includes time for organizing competitions, auditions, recordings, performances,
grants, scheduling, etc.
What have you learned from music that has helped you in other areas of life? I would say that the list of skills that most of us acquire through music are simply too long to list. As musicians, we
tend to take for granted the skills that we acquire over the years. Communication, organization, time-management,
and leadership skills, as well as entrepreneurial abilities, a relationship with technology and becoming a team player
are just a few that come to mind.
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If you could identify the moment in your life when you knew that you wanted to be a professional musician,
what would that moment be? I started to get the idea late in the school year of eighth grade. I was certain by the end of ninth grade that music could be a direction.
Do you get nervous before a performance or a competition? What advice would you give to beginners who
are nervous? Everyone gets nervous. Although there is a wonderful world full of helpful techniques to help deal with performance
anxiety, I think the best way to combat nerves is to perform more often. Setting students up for successful performances via the selection of appropriate repertoire and adequate preparation can keep confidence levels high, as
bad experiences can lead to nerves. If performing is a regular aspect of your life, it becomes far more natural and you
develop a thick skin. When I was in undergrad, I organized countless recitals with my pianist at seniors’ centers in
the NYC area before we played our debut at Carnegie. After playing the recital through at least once a week for a
couple of months, it felt “second nature” on the stage of Weill Recital Hall.
You are quite involved in chamber music, such as your Conor and Ayano Duo. What makes chamber music
such a passion? Do you have a favorite instrumental combination?
I love the feeling of intense collaboration in any and all chamber settings. The opportunity to play in established
chamber groups, giving dozens of performances of works, allows for comfort, understanding and a profound sense
of communication between performers. It is a growing trend in classical music to rehearse less and less as demands
on the productivity of performers increase, so having this connection with the music and colleagues is truly
indispensable to me. As far as flute and percussion goes, I love the rewards that come from painstakingly piecing
together exceptionally complicated works.
I advise students to take their chamber music groups seriously, as it is going to be an increasingly important genre in
the future of classical music.
Through your duo, you are involved in commissioning projects. Do you plan any for solo flute? What are you
favorite aspects of commissioning pieces? Do you have advice on how to become involved in new works?
I love to be a part of this process and have made it a point to commission at least one new work every year. Ransom
Wilson has the entire studio at Yale commission a piece every year, which is a fantastic idea.
My duo is always thinking about new projects and I have pending commissioning projects for solo works by Marcus
Maroney (University of Houston faculty) and Cory Kasprzyk who is one of the talent students in or DMA program
in contemporary music at BGSU. Although I will always play a wide-range of repertoire, it is great to be in an
environment that fosters appreciation for new music at BGSU. ♫
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Learn about a Flute Phenom: Patrick Gallois!
A famous flutist prodigy, Patrick Gallois was born in Linselles, France in
1956. At the young age of 17, he was admitted into the Conservatoire de
Paris, where he studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal, and won First Prize in only
his second year at the famous conservatory, a distinction which permits
graduation from the conservatory. After graduation, at the age of 21, he won
the position of principal flutist in Orchestre National de France, under the
direction of Lorin Maazel. As an orchestral flutist, he has worked under
legendary conductors, such as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Pierre
Boulez, Karl Boehm, Eugen Jochum, Sergiu Celibidache. Gallois left his
orchestral vacancies in 1984 to focus on his solo career.
Today, Gallois continually performs in countless organizations, and conducts
internationally, namely for the orchestra he founded, "l'Academie de Paris."
Gallois has had an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon
and, more recently, has recorded with Naxos. His discography currently
includes some 75 recordings.
Sources:
http://www.patrickgallois.com/
Naxos
Wikipedia
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